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Increasing the Number of Women Peacekeepers

We launched our ‘Women, Peace, and Security’ agenda… to bring more women into peacekeeping… The research that [CGD] has done and the evidence that you put on the table really convinced us that it was the right thing to do.”
— Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canadian Minister of International Development and La Francophonie

A higher proportion of women in peacekeeping operations is associated with lower rates of sexual violence by peacekeepers and more sustained peace. But while the UN Security Council has recognized the importance of increasing women’s participation in peacekeeping, progress has been slow.

To address this problem, senior fellow Charles Kenny proposed a dedicated trust fund to provide supplementary payments to troop-contributing countries for each woman peacekeeper provided. When his analysis showed that for as little as $77 million a year the UN could significantly increase the proportion of women peacekeepers, CGD launched a campaign to persuade the UN and key donor governments to establish a trust fund. In November, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the Elsie Initiative on Women in Peace Operations, through which Canada will contribute an initial C$15 million to a fund to support the deployment of women peacekeepers.